


Fathom

by RosaGoodlorde



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Epic Battles, Hope vs. Despair, Just Add Ninjas, M/M, Naruto is Just Naruto, POV Uchiha Sasuke, Rivalry, Teamwork, Tenderness, Uchiha Itachi Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:55:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23302744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosaGoodlorde/pseuds/RosaGoodlorde
Summary: There had been no words. The moment Naruto had stepped into the clearing, eyes determined and stern, Sasuke had inclined his head, his cool gaze matching his unaffected pose. The next moment they had already collided in the air, fighting fiercely. All too readily they had gotten back into this eerie rhythm of theirs, hit and parry.And the blonde idiot had truly gotten better after their last encounter, Sasuke had to give him credit for that. To his own surprise, he was exhilarated by this realization. His gut filled with something nigh anticipation. Interesting. But still, this was disturbing the peace of his inner turmoil, his hatred, his determination, which he was so used to by now. He had to cut it off. This annoyance. This tie to the past. Once and for all.---As Sasuke is investigating the trails of a nin in the woods on his own, he is suddenly joined by Naruto and a fierce battle erupts. They both find themselves in an unexpected situation, torn between continuing this fight between them and working together in order to survive...
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43





	Fathom

“After practicing for so many months, this is still all that you can do? How disappointing,” he smirked, eyes glinting. “Don’t keep wasting my time.” 

His expression was mirrored by his opponent, whose mouth tilted into a lopsided grin, dodging Sasuke’s next kick, anticipating his every move.

“As if you weren’t the one occupying mine.” Naruto kept his voice even, launching an attack of his own, that only missed Sasuke by an inch. “You could simply decide to come back with me.” He stroke three times in succession – all three blows instantly parried. “Back home.” 

“Not gonna happen.” Sasuke let himself fall close to the ground only to jump of with even more force and speed. He managed to kick Naruto in the side, sending him flying a few feet away. 

“There is no home for me, teme. Get that in your stupid head.” But Naruto already came back at him, unflinching, landing a successful hit at Sasuke’s side as well. 

“Wrong. You just don’t want to see”, Naruto exclaimed. He even gave a short laugh. It carried a bitter tone.

Like dancers in a perfect choreography they vaulted back and forth, two dark shades bathed in crimson against the setting evening sun. They both knew that they were only getting warm. They both knew that this encounter was pointless.

Sasuke had been taking a break and sorting himself down by the river earlier this evening. He was on his own for once, relishing the absence of his teammates. He was following the trail of a nin, who was rather gifted in obliterating his traces and had interfered with their work prior at some occasions – a time too often for his own good. Since this did not seem to be much of a challenge, his team had split up in the morning, the others heading in a different direction, making Sasuke the one investigating on his own.

The moment Sasuke had felt Naruto’s presence getting close, at first he did not trust his senses. What was his former teammate doing in this secluded area, far from Konoha and all on his own? But there was no mistaking Naruto’s all too familiar chakra for someone else’s, not for him at least. It was a blazing, flickering thing, unsettled, much like the kiyuubi he carried within. Sasuke considered hiding his own presence, but somehow curiosity got the better of him. Or maybe the effort of going out of his way just to avoid this unexpected encounter simply did seem too great. Maybe he couldn’t even care less. So Sasuke decided to simply stay there, calm, awaiting Naruto’s arrival.

There had been no words. The moment Naruto had stepped into the clearing, eyes determined and stern, Sasuke had inclined his head, his cool gaze matching his unaffected pose. The next moment they had already collided in the air, fighting fiercely. All too readily they had gotten back into this eerie rhythm of theirs, hit and parry. 

And the blonde idiot had truly gotten better after their last encounter, Sasuke had to give him credit for that. To his own surprise, he was exhilarated by this realization. His gut filled with something nigh anticipation. Interesting. But still, this was disturbing the peace of his inner turmoil, his hatred, his determination, which he was so used to by now. He had to cut it off. This annoyance. This tie to the past. Once and for all. 

“Why do you keep seeking me out, Naruto?” he sneered, while spiraling away from a rather nasty, well-placed attack. His dark gaze bore into blazing blue eyes. 

“I don’t honestly care how you choose to throw away your own life, but stop following me around and carry your sorry ass back to the hidden shithole you crawled out from.” He joined his hands into a seal.

“You might not want to hear that, but Hidden Leaf is just about your own hole as it is mine,” Naruto spat, turning a somersault to the right, the moment the flames singed the air. Out of the motion he sent a perfect Rasengan in answer, which Sasuke evaded just the same way. They both landed on the ground elegantly ten feet away from each other, as if nothing had happened. Well, that escalated quickly. Sasuke felt elated. But as he awaited Naruto’s next move, he got disappointed.  
Instead of attacking the other chose to speak.

“Pursuing your revenge is a mistake.” Naruto's tone was serious once again, eyes unrelenting. “For two years, you’ve been secluding yourself, pushing away the persons, who care for you the most. What good should come out of this?” The statement yielded him another sudden and quick chain of punches by Sasuke, who was not in the slightest interested in talking. They were throwing kunais and shuriken by now in between their attacks.

In truth, Sasuke was getting impatient. Strangely, he was not able to pull his eyes away from the moron for even a second. And already he felt his powers lessen from the intensity. There was no chance against Naruto’s sheer endless chakra reserve in the long run. So he made a simple calculation: the longer the duration of their fight, the bigger the chance that he might slip at some point and Naruto’s provocations ran true. The bigger also the chance that he might get severely injured, incapable of finishing his mission. Or worst, if most unlikely scenario: the idiot would somehow manage to overpower and drag him back to Konoha.

There was no way, Naruto would agree to end or postpone their battle. So, though he would like to continue fighting and somehow felt more alive than in weeks, in order to end this quickly, Sasuke impulsively decided to play the best card he knew in combination with a new jutsu he had recently learned.

Landing on the ground Sasuke ceased all his motion and cast his eyes down, as if in deep thought. “Naruto … ,“ he started, eyeing the other ninja, who instantly gave a puzzled reaction at Sasuke calling his name. Sasuke continued, “In truth … I don’t even know, what to think anymore.” He felt the other’s instant hesitation. Good.

“I have no ties with Konoha, this runs true. But sometimes, I still think of Sakura, Kakashi and You.” How cheap. “But I have to become stronger and I need to do this on my own.” The lie escaped his lips much easier than he had thought. He buried his face in his hands. In the back of his head he subdued the notion that, indeed, he thought about them … a lot. Maybe it was only half a lie.

He could feel the atmosphere shift. Naruto released his fighting stance and took a few steps in his direction. “Sasuke … .” He was not really buying this sudden change in Sasuke’s behavior, Sasuke could tell. And of course, it did not make any sense, considering the nature of the last years of their relationship and random encounters. But as Sasuke expected, Naruto was either too dumb or to blinded by his own desire for Sasuke to finally acknowledge his origins. Acknowledge him. Either way, after a hesitant moment, Naruto stepped into Sasuke’s range. Underneath his palms Sasuke’s mouth contorted into a sneer. 

At lightning speed Sasuke pulled the hands from his face and pushed them onto Naruto’s chest, releasing the jutsu he had collected in his fingertips the past few minutes all at once. It was a perfect hit and only possible, because Naruto’s defenses had been lowered. Naruto fell heavy on the ground, too startled to even make a sound. The impact must have hurt as hell, Sasuke silently remarked. Because this new jutsu at the same moment pushed and drained the opponent of nearly all his chakra at once. Though the effects would only last a few minutes. Even Naruto was depleted of most of his power and lay motionless on his back. His disorientated eyes were searching for Sasuke’s, who took two steps in Naruto's direction. He drew the katana, he had not used until this point in their confrontation, from his back. The tip was pointed at Naruto’s throat. 

“Bastard,” Naruto just gave a dry chuckle. “That was new. You cheated.” 

“Not in the slightest. Never let others exploit your weakness. This is a technique as valid and basic as any other for winning a fight.”

“Weakness, huh?” Naruto gave another humorless laugh. “So my trust and concern for others and for you are just a weakness to you.” He was utterly unimpressed by the situation.

“The one, which will cost you your life,” Sasuke stated, not as confident as he wished.

“The one, which gives me the strength to rise and fight each day. The one, which gives me a reason to never think of myself as strong and skilled enough and continue training until I cannot hold myself up anymore. So that one day I am able to protect the village and the people I care for most. So that one day I can beat sense into you and pull you back home with me.” 

Sasuke thought of his own and only burning ambition – Itachi – and paused. He did not need any strength for the benefit of others, he just craved enough power to win this one fight once and for all. To kill this hollow feeling once and for all. He had always thought the sole reason for Naruto to do anything was his burning wish for becoming Hokage one day. Hokage of the place Sasuke had no interest in ever entering again. But now for the first time he understood that the man in front of him neither cared for power itself nor the title of Hokage – he wanted to be powerful enough to help others. Sasuke imagined Naruto in the Hokage’s robes and a brief and unexpected wave of wistfulness passed through him. 

So this was it then. Sasuke was still breathing heavy from the exhaustion and aching of his own, not lethal, but uncomfortable wounds. His mind was clouded, like after a high. He was beginning to feel the cold in the aftermath of their fight and fading light. Still, he did not move, neither did he withdraw nor struck his blade. Naruto’s expression was calm and the longer Sasuke lingered, the greater his unease became. Then he took his decision.

He saw the sudden widening of Naruto’s eyes, the moment before the blow came. Still Sasuke was too slow to react. His feet were swiped away from under him, his head yanked back, a blade appearing out of thin air next to his throat, nearly drawing blood. He jerked his head back and jumped to the side, giving his unknown opponent an uncoordinated stroke with his katana. Fuck. The nin. The mission. He had been so absorbed in his fight with Naruto, that he had completely forgotten about his actual goal. 

The nin was clothed in gray from tip to toe, slender and moved with unnatural speed. He kicked at Sasuke’s hand so that his katana was thrown a few feet away, landing in the river. Sasuke cursed and activated his Sharingan, but too late, his opponent was already out of reach. Beside him Naruto had risen to his feet, also trying to follow the swift movement of the nin with his eyes. 

He was rapidly jumping from tree to tree two meters above them, going in circles, keeping his distance. This was fairly odd, but before either Naruto nor Sasuke even knew, what was about to happen, they heard a soaring. Suddenly the both of them were pulled together and crashed against the tree next to them, yelping. The impact deprived them of nearly all oxygen in their lungs. As Sasuke looked down on himself, he saw several chords of rope wrapped tightly around the upper part of his body, totally immobilizing him.

“A nin of Konoha and a vagabond at each other's throats – lucky me.” The person stepping out of the shadows now definitely sounded female through the gray mask she was wearing. “Honestly, that was quite a show to witness. Not sure, I’d been able to even restrain one of you, if you hadn’t done all the work by yourself.”

Sasuke gave a frustrated growl and tried to move, but it was useless. As he tried to break through the multiple chords of rope by a controlled release of chakra, he was instantly drained of it. He felt dazed. 

The gray nin casually folded her arms. “This rope is chakra-absorbing, as you might already have realized by now. Although I’m not interested in you myself, indeed, my teammates might have a few questions to ask, with nice fitting techniques to make you sing – before we dispose of you. Just don’t make me take the one hour journey for nothing. I’ve seen what you’re capable of and your mutual dislike. But instantly dead your worthless. Don’t be at each other’s throats until I come back and enjoy the stay. ” With that, she inclined her head and headed off into the night.

Great. Now he was tied to a tree with the moron next to him. He was pissed as hell at his own stupidity. Because he had let himself get involved with the blonde. Again. It had kept him from his usual neat work and gotten him into needless trouble. Again. 

“So the gray nin had never been one person to begin with,” Naruto asserted, gradually getting back to his senses from the drain Sasuke had dealt him. He really recovered quickly. “And this trail was meant to be found.”

“Could you stop stating the obvious for once?” Sasuke impatiently cursed, though Naruto exactly spoke his mind. What a cunning diversion from the gray nins actual goal: Intelligence through interrogating captives, probably for selling it further. So this had been the real reason Naruto had been in the same area as Sasuke. The gray nins must have been a nuisance not only for his allies, but for Konoha as well, and someone had to investigate and track them down. Naruto’s team probably had split up as well, falling for the same dodge as him.

They needed to find a way to work around this, and quickly. Wait, he needed to find a way, there was no them and never would be again, he reminded himself. Never had been there at all. At the first chance he would be on his way again. Alone.

Naruto, against all odds, was very still. Both their thoughts went back to the earlier events in the clearing, to the outcome of their battle. Sasuke tensed. 

“You were about to-”, Naruto started. 

“Shut it.” Sasuke’s reply was harsh, frantic. He felt the unspoken words linger in the air like acid. Felt the other’s discomfort, was suddenly crushed by his own. His own actions and words played in his head. He was not able to talk, his lips tightly pressed together.

So they sat in silence for a few minutes once more, each one brooding on his own. Both kept their faces averted, avoiding eye-contact and staring into the surrounding darkness.

Within the walls of his inner containment Sasuke felt deserted. And he hurt. What kind of ninja was he even, getting caught like this, like a bloody amateur? A failure. How was he even going to achieve his objective, to seriously challenge and beat his brother, if he let himself get distracted and caught this easily? 

He was undeniably stuck right now. But what really frightened him was not their current situation, may it be as inconvenient as it gets, he had faced many seemingly even more futile ones than this before – it was the scene over and over replaying in his mind. The moment he had been about to seriously consider a killing blow, to dispose of the moron, he had inwardly stepped away from the action as if burned. He could not do it. Hadn’t there been the interference of the gray nin, his faltering would have been obvious: the small victory and encouragement for his blonde adversary, he so desperately sought. The proof that Sasuke had failed to distance and immunize himself entirely against the sentimental ties of his past self. 

And what truly had gotten to Sasuke, had been the genuine concern in those blue eyes, even in the moment of defeat, of near death. He desperately tried to block it out. He squeezed his eyes shut in the dark, to calm himself. Normally, he had no trouble keeping a cool head. Think. Find a way out of this. But somehow this was different. The person he was with made it different. 

Naruto had gone completely limp next to him. The absence of the cheerful, boasting or demanding demeanor he normally wore around Sasuke felt alien. As if he had been stripped of his life force.

“You know,” Naruto softly said into the quiet after some time. “For a moment I thought her blade went right through your throat.” His voice was hoarse, the statement nearly inaudible. “For a moment I thought you were about to die.” 

Sasuke refrained from answering. Long forbidden memories of their shared missions, hours spent messing around, hours of relentless training, of boisterous competition came to his mind. Though it felt like the distant memories of someone else, one particular intense incident stuck. He knew exactly what Naruto was referring to: I had given my life for him once. Without a second thought. He had had several blades pierced through his body that day. It was sheer luck he was still alive. This was a weakness he could not afford. He had been deadly serious, he had to catch up to his brother. And there was no existence next to or after this. This was all that mattered.

Still, somehow words left his mouth, as if in a desperate urge to console: “I’m not dead, usuratonkatchi. Neither are you. Get a grip.” There was no tenderness to his voice, but the effect was magical.

He felt Naruto shifting next to him, lifting his head a bit. “… True.”

Sasuke exhaled. The idiot. Naruto’s spirit had always been easy to hearten. Sometimes Sasuke’s mere attention was already enough to distract him from worry. He slowly twisted his head in Naruto’s direction and felt the other doing the same. When their eyes met, he realized how close they actually were sitting. Even in the blue evening light, Naruto’s gaze was clear, almost too intense to bear. Sasuke felt scrutinized, studied. Suddenly he was aware their shoulders and arms had been touching all the time. It felt strange, but not uncomfortable. Sasuke could not remember the last time, he had been this close to Naruto, apart from beating the shit out of each other. His eyes had adjusted to the dark by now. So he caught himself staring back, intrigued, taking in as many details as possible: Naruto’s hardened, by now not so youthful features anymore, the few new lines around his eyes, the slight bruise next to his temple, obviously from a hit Sasuke had landed earlier. There was no denying Naruto had changed, grown. He wasn’t even bickering or picking a fight, he was not pulling his usual come-back-to-Konoha-shit in repeat, but sat perfectly still. Neither of them spoke a word, as if they were both caught in a staring contest. But the moment he imagined the other’s soft breath on his skin, realizing their noses were almost touching, Sasuke felt the sudden urge to look away. He turned his head abruptly. Shit. What was that. Somehow his heartbeat quickened. 

It was Naruto, who spoke first, seemingly unaffected. “So… What do we do about this rope? If the gray nin’s words are true, we’ve got about an hour if at all, before we’ll get who knows how many visitors, too interested in us.” 

Sasuke took a few seconds to calm himself, replying in a particularly bored tone.“Obviously. You tried using your chakra?”

“Yep.” 

“And only your body strength?”

“Yeah, also negative. These damn chords don’t move an inch, only cut into my skin.” 

Sasuke expected as much. Of course their seeking for a quick solution to their problem would follow down the exact same line of thought. Apparently, they had already checked the same options. Sasuke knew their best try would be to use one of their kunai and saw the damn rope through, up from below, despite the limited reach of their hands. Unfortunately, nearly all of those now lay useless, somewhere scattered in the woods from their earlier fight. But being ninjas and having received the same basic training, they at least had to have one kunai left, hidden within or around their clothes. And of course, Sasuke naturally followed the rule to never use up all of your weapons in a fight.

Naruto, too, did not disappoint. “Where?” he simply asked. “Right above my knee,” Sasuke answered. “But I cannot raise my arm enough to get it out.” 

“Okay.” He felt Naruto shifting even closer to him. His left side pressed into Sasuke’s right, while the latter raised his leg and bent his knee, only to uncurl it again to some degree. Because though Naruto could not raise his arm much, after some fumbling he managed to stretch his left hand far enough to reach the small pouch, where next to two empty slots one kunai was resting. Naruto pulled it out successfully, grazing against Sasuke’s thigh with the cold steel. He twisted his wrist in an unhealthy looking angle and started to cut. Sasuke noticed the dried blood and bruises on Naruto’s hand – again, inflicted by him.

“’suke, did you forget to sharpen this thing?” Naruto muttered. His face briefly contorted in pain. Maybe his wrist also was affected by their fight, anyways, he didn’t seem to have enough strength or speed to effectively move the kunai to cut the thick layers of rope. 

“’f course not,” Sasuke responded. “As if I wouldn’t think about preparing and-”

“checking my weaponry every day,” Naruto continued, smirking. Kakashi’s first teachings had sunk deep with both of them, even after all this time. Sasuke somehow felt caught. “You know, he’d be proud of your progress.” Naruto’s quiet voice was warm and sincere and … too much. 

“Fuck you,” came the immediate reply at the mentioning of their former sensei, though Sasuke did not manage to put real malice in his voice. I’m sure he’s as proud of you as anyone can be, Sasuke thought, but he did not say it out aloud. Never would. Instead his gaze fell back on Naruto’s hand struggling with the kunai. Though his limits of movement were even more restricted by the rope than Naruto’s, he put his grip on the other’s hand, supporting the upward cutting motion. Naruto winced and gave a short intake of breath at the touch, but didn’t complain. The kunai’s movement was reflecting the moonlight from the river. 

“Where is your last?” Sasuke asked after a while, eyeing Naruto from the side. The other wore a slight, content smile throughout the pain. “Not tellin’.” “Tsk.” Sasuke didn’t notice he was smiling himself. Once the rope slackened, he had to be on his guard again, and this little, hypocritical display pretending to be team work would come to an abrupt end. He was getting too used to the distracting warmth next to him already. The cold was all he was so desperately in need of.

Silently they continued, taking turns in cutting the rope, one or the two of them at a time, and after half an hour, it finally fell to the ground loosely. Naruto rose to his feet unsteadily, rubbing his wrists and probing the motion of his limbs. Sasuke kept himself seated inspecting the rope without haste. There was nothing extraordinary about it anymore, the chakra-absorbing effect gone. He searched the corners of his mind for the imprints his Sharingan had given him during the attack of the gray nin. And then he remembered: she had moved her hands into a seal several times while jumping from tree to tree, not much unlike the technique he had probed on Naruto earlier. So with enough skill it was possible to manipulate an object into having the same effect. Interesting. Something to experiment with later. 

Finally he looked up. Naruto stood tall, one hand on his hip, the other playing with Sasuke’s kunai. Though his pose seemed relaxed, Sasuke felt the underlying tension. The gray nins had arrived. He pretended to not notice and carried on, inwardly calculating his options.

“Well, give the kunai back,” Sasuke said to Naruto. There was no need to stretch the inevitable. But the stupid grin on the idiot’s face just broadened. “Come get it.” Sasuke was torn between darting into the woods as soon as possible and honestly leaping at him. He did neither. Instead he rose and strode past to the shore, getting his katana out of the shallow water. Still crouched, inspecting his blade with his back to Naruto, he said: “If you won’t give it back,” he turned in a swift movement and let the Katana come down heavy, “Then put it to use.” With a violent sound the blade collided and caught with the kunai in Naruto’s hand, who instantly leaned in with all his weight to lessen the impact. Sasuke’s body followed the motion so that their faces came side by side for a moment. “Five on the left, one on the tree behind you and one more incoming,” Sasuke mouthed. “As if I couldn’t count,” Naruto smirked. Then he let his arm sink, freeing the kunai and spiraled out of Sasuke’s way. Sasuke gained speed and with two leaps ran up the tree, kicking the nin hiding above in the face. He turned a somersault down, blocking three shuriken aimed at him with his blade in the motion. Adeptly he landed on the ground, the body of the incapacitated nin following with a thud. 

Meanwhile Naruto had been busy as well. One of the other five nins, who had washed on the clearing, already lay on the ground, a kunai, probably the one Naruto had acquired from Sasuke, protruding from his chest. He was in an open fight with the four remaining, quickly dodging in unexpected, creative ways, so that several times they hit and dealt damage to each other instead of him. 

Sasuke meant to start in his direction, as he perceived a movement to his right from the corner of his eye. He paused and did not turn, until he felt his opponent close, then in a rapid motion extended his katana, so that the other could not evade running into it in his futile attempt. Sasuke let the blade stick to the body, turned and sprinted off in Naruto’s direction. 

The moment Naruto was losing the upper-hand, gained by his audacious surprise maneuver, and left an unguarded opening to his side, his closest attacker was thrown off for several meters by Sasuke’s fist. 

“You took your time,” Naruto remarked as they came back to back, encircled by the four silent nin clothed in gray. “Hn.” 

The next moments went by in a rush. Like always the case with Naruto, there had been no verbal agreement, no prior discussed strategy to this fight. With any other person this would seriously be unnerving Sasuke. But everything concerning Naruto was like contained chaos and simply unfolded itself – you either complied or exasperated. Sasuke had learned long ago to combine his own precise wit and fighting style with the moron’s dashing one. And unexpectedly, though missing two years of shared practice, they still fit. Better than ever. Where Naruto’s cover crumbled, Sasuke would suddenly be there, deflecting each serious blow. Where Sasuke leashed out at an adversary, Naruto would use his disarray to land another hit on top. Too soon, though outnumbered in the beginning, they were the only ones standing. Three nins lay scattered, while one had run for the woods. 

Sasuke felt ecstatic after the fight, but the feeling was instantly deadened and finally gave way to confusion as he turned to face Naruto, who stood a few meters away. The other was panting as well, wearing an unreadable expression. There we go again. Sasuke inclined his head and adopted a fighting stance, Naruto mimicking him at first, only to back out of it again. He was clearly frustrated. 

“You know, … I cannot force you to come with me this time, Sasuke,” he earnestly said. “But you cannot deny that this…”, he opened his arms and gestured over the battlefield, “This is what we're made for. This is what we're good at. Together. And this is why Konoha needs us. Both. It is where you belong.” 

“As if you could force me into anything, dead-last. Each time we fought, I’ve always beaten you. You're nothing but a hindrance to my progress,” Sasuke coldly remarked. He knew very well, their fighting compatibility was not all Naruto was referring to. Already spending this little time with the brat put him off his usual moody self, so he continued, “As if you knew anything.” Sasuke narrowed his eyes, putting as much hatred into them as he could muster. “As if you hadn’t ruined anything.” 

He turned on his heal. “If you don’t want to find yourself on the ground again: Don’t. Follow. Me.” Picking up his katana he started walking into the woods. He did not look back, expecting Naruto to shout or come after him, but instead silence was the only thing that trailed him.

Though he would not admit, their encounter had truly shaken him. How unusual for Naruto to just ... leave him be. Somehow he felt betrayed, livid at the moron for meddling with his expectations, his mind. After a five minutes walk into the woods he finally felt that he was no longer alone.

“I know you’re there. So come down from your comfortable hideout on that tree and let’s settle this.”

A gray nin appeared in front of him, hanging from a thick branch. Though, especially in the dark, they all looked alike, somehow Sasuke knew that it must be the woman, who had tied him and Naruto to the tree earlier.

“Didn’t quite go as planned now, did it?” he said with malice in his voice.

“You’ll regret this.” Her voice was shaking with uncontrollable rage. She probably had lost one dear to her, among the attacking gray nins. And now gave in to the weakness and frenzy of loss. 

The gray nin pulled out a short blade and a second later they were swirling between bushes and trees, one on one. Though she was quick, normally this wouldn’t have been much of a challenge for him. But he was still distracted. So at some point into the fight, while moving backwards, Sasuke lost his balance and stumbled over a root. He smacked against the ground violently, cursing himself. He had underestimated and miscalculated how worn and upset he was from all the earlier fighting. She lifted her blade. Sasuke braced himself, awaiting the inevitable blow that would draw blood, but it never came. Instead as he looked up a kunai – his – was sticking out of the mask. A moment later the gray nin sunk to the ground, motionless.

“You cannot deny, these weaknesses of mine worked out pretty well this time,” Naruto remarked, walking into Sasuke’s small field of vision. Obviously, he too had thought about the one gray nin they had missed and decided to stick close. He knelt next to Sasuke. 

“I will not let yours get you killed, Sasuke. Not today or ever.” There was resolution in his voice and an underlying tenderness, Sasuke did not comprehend. He felt a surge of humiliation mingled with gratitude and a sentiment he could not place. Then suddenly Naruto looked up and Sasuke felt it, too: three persons were heading in their direction quickly. Sasuke knew exactly who they were and so did Naruto. He rose, wearing a slight but sad smile. “Next time I’ll have Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei with me and this will go different.” It sounded like a promise. 

He darted away only a moment before three nin crashed through the bushes on Sasuke’s right. “Saskuke!” Karin exclaimed. “Who was this, what did they do to you? We felt so much chakra in the air ...” Her gaze fell on the gray nin on the ground, then to the spot were Naruto had vanished. “Should we-” 

“Don’t.” Sasuke said, slowly sitting up. Suigetsu and Juugo where already investigating the body. Sasuke’s eyes were fixated on the kunai. It was reflecting the moonlight. “Did you gather any useful information?” Suigetsu asked. 

“… No.” He yanked the kunai out forcefully and rose. “We could follow-” “No.”

“Then, where do we go?” 

“Anywhere … but home.” And with that he started off into the night.


End file.
